


The Private Life Of Sharon Carter

by pinklights



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Sharon Carter (Marvel), Gen, In Which Sharon Goes Out With Her Best Girls Has A Good Time, Non-Judging Breakfast Club, Old Steve Rogers, Past Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Sharon Carter Deserves Better!, Sharon Carter Doing Normal Everyday Stuff With Friends, Slice of Life, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, idc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 04:04:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20002039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinklights/pseuds/pinklights
Summary: Sharon Carter has been through quite a lot. She's worked with Captain America, traded SHIELD for the CIA, lost Captain America, turned to dust, came back, went back to SHIELD, started running a new Captain America team, and now she's just trying to live her life. The dust is settling in and she honestly just needs a drink or three.





	The Private Life Of Sharon Carter

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a sort of sister-story to [I'll Be Seeing You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19715695/chapters/46659013), but could totally be a standalone too. (Although I do recommend reading that one if you're curious about the Buckynat parts.) Basically, I love Sharon Carter (and so should you)! Thank you all for reading. Kudos are much appreciated and I'll see you in the comments <3

“Where are you going?”

The man in the bed still dazed from their little tryst reached for her, but she slipped away as she shimmied into her jeans. Sharon Carter didn’t do sleepovers and pillow talk. Sharon Carter was a busy woman who had a daytime routine down like clockwork. Waking up in a random man’s apartment somewhere in Queens wasn’t part of that routine. 

“I’m leaving,” she explained, grabbing her shirt from the floor and buttoning it up. She looked at herself in the mirror and fixed her hair, just decent enough that it wouldn’t look like a mess. Sharon Carter was also put together. She had to be. She had a legacy to uphold and being less than put together wasn’t acceptable.

“You can stay.” He drew the covers for effect, patting the space beside him. She wasn’t sure she even remembered his name. 

“I’d rather not. Thanks for the drink though.” And with that, she was gone. She made her cab drop her off at her neighborhood convenience store because she didn’t trust anyone with her actual address. She was pretty sure only three people in the world knew where she actually lived. It kept her safe. It kept her private life private.

SHIELD wasn’t the same after the events in DC and it was definitely not the same after half of the universe disappeared. It was much smaller now, with only a few trusted people running its operations. She was coaxed by former colleagues to come back into the fold, to leave the CIA and restructure the agency. Apparently, it ran in the blood. That wasn’t something she liked thinking about. The reason she never told anyone that she was _a_ Carter was because she wanted to prove herself. She wasn’t about to inherit a whole organization based on the fact that Peggy Carter started it. 

However, she needed to build it back up, start from the bottom, keep it close-knit. The once-mighty organization was running on bare bones and she was in charge of its biggest project since the blip. Two idiots with a shield. It was ironic. She hated administrative work so much but she was needed in the office.

These days the only action she got was from one night stands and her early morning runs. She missed being on the field. She was kind of jealous that Natasha was getting all the fun, but then again Natasha was avoiding bumping into a certain metal armed man at the office lest she combust.

She considered it once when Carol came back for a bit. They were having brunch and she was telling her about all of these worlds that she was helping save. She wanted to go. She wanted to see what that was about. But SHIELD needed her, apparently. Earth did. Most of all, the two idiots in her office did.

“So let me get this straight, the creepy scientist guy who tried to hotwire your brain a few years back is still alive?”

“Yup.” Bucky nodded, though he didn’t look all that worried about it. Something about the way he carried himself these days made her feel like she could trust him more. She’d been depending on Sam to lead the team but it seemed like his partner was about to be cleared for solo work. Just not this one though. Zemo undid Bucky’s mind with codes once. Who knows if he’ll do it again?

“Do you know what he wants?” 

“I’m not so sure. All I know is that he’s looking into old Hydra projects.”

“We got a lead that he’s somewhere in Western Europe, most likely Germany. Thankfully, Nat has a person on the ground and he’s been watching him for us.” Sam leaned against his seat and stretched his arms over his head. They’d been gone for weeks trying to figure this out and now that they have, it just seems like more work. 

“Okay. I’ll try to look into it and figure out what we can do. He might lead us to something big.”

The rest of her day was pretty much uneventful. Managerial work meant paperwork and endless reports. By the time she was done, it was already dark outside. She was about to head home when Natasha caught up with her at the elevator. She looked tired.

“I need you.” 

“Wow, Nat, is your boyfriend unavailable?” The blonde smirked and quirked an eyebrow at her friend, making a show of reaching for her hips. The redhead just laughed.

“Sadly, sweetheart, it’s not for _that_ . An underground syndicate I thought I’ve gotten rid off started showing signs of activity again. I can’t infiltrate them anymore since they _know_ me. They’re meticulous. I need you to work it.”

This was exactly the kind of mission she was waiting for. Without hesitation she nodded, agreeing instantly. “Alright.” 

“Alright?” Natasha quirked an eyebrow at her, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Alright.”

“What about the boys?’

“Sam told me about their German lead and it looks like they can handle it on that front. You can handle them in the meantime.”

Sharon worked out a timeline with Natasha on the mission. She’d be gone for a month or two, going as deep into the syndicate as she could in order to expose them and find their head. Apparently, he liked blondes, which worked well for her. Unlike Natasha who was both an agent and an Avenger, the spotlight didn’t shine that much on Sharon’s involvement with SHIELD. Not a lot of people knew about her connection to Aunt Peggy and that’s how she preferred it. It was easier to blend in and become invisible that way.

She was two months into the mission when she found a code in the local classifieds. It was so old school it actually made her laugh out loud as she drank her morning coffee. Russians were truly traditionalists but their methods were always effective. After decoding the message during breakfast, Sharon made plans to go out that night to the club Natasha specified. It would be dark and loud, filled to the brim with people who would mostly be intoxicated. The perfect place to catch up.

“You look good.” 

Natasha was all dolled up, dangerously red lipstick on her lips and a tight dress hugging all of her curves. Something told her that the Russian spy didn’t dress up for her specifically but she still appreciated the view. They got drinks by the bar and found a corner they could hide in. 

“Should’ve seen my pilot’s face. Suffice to say he’s probably having a hard time waiting at the hangar right now.”

“You brought him along? What about that Zemo lead?”

“He’s gone cold for now,” she took a sip of her drink. “Sam’s taking a break. My good soldier and I are heading to Paris for the weekend.”

“On company expense?”

“ _No_. I have business to attend to there.” A smirk appeared on the redhead’s lips and Sharon let it go. Natasha’s web had a wide reach. If she wanted to take her boyfriend on her side missions, who was she to protest?

“So you stopped by to…?”

“Check on you. You’ve been quiet recently. Enjoying Amsterdam too much?”

“Enjoying working. And being an ocean away from real life. Please take over for me permanently.” 

“ _No,_ ” Natasha laughed. “I can’t. Not when I have personal business with one of the members of the team.”

“Having personal business shouldn’t be a problem when the team member in question is the best assassin in the world.” When she got back, she’d make sure to clear Barnes for solo missions. It seemed like whatever trouble he had with aggression that led to him punching a hole through Sam’s wall was an isolated case wearing a tight black dress and sitting across from her.

“ _Second_ best,” the redhead pointed out. “We’re still adjusting. And it doesn’t help that Sam looks at us like we’re up to no good every time we’re in a meeting.”

“You’re going to Paris on a company jet. I’m pretty sure that counts as being up to no good.”

“Like I said, I’m following a lead there. Doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a night out, too.”

The rest of the night was spent over more drinks and more laughter. It was almost two in the morning when Natasha’s phone buzzed. She dropped Sharon off at the apartment she’d been renting and was off to the airport. That’s what normal women did, right? They’d ask their friends to hang out and made sure they got home safe. Sure, Natasha asked her to go out through a code in a newspaper and sure, home to her was a rentable and for her friend a humming jet in the middle of the night. But they were normal. As normal as they could ever be.

It’d be another month before Sharon sees Natasha again but it’s only because she actually did her job well and brought down one of the big names in the underground circuit she was trying to eradicate. That’s one group of bad guys down and how many to go? It didn’t matter. The rush she felt when a Quinjet came for her was like none other. It didn’t even bother her to be back at the office. Her first order of business was to clear the Winter Soldier. Her second was to do some spring cleaning. 

What wasn’t on her agenda was seeing a familiar figure nursing a coffee cup at her usual breakfast spot. She was just stopping by to get a bagel to go but she caught his attention anyway. It’d be rude not to say ‘hi’ despite everything that’s happened. Sure, he wasn’t as broad and his presence wasn’t as commanding. She doubted the lady who was serving him his eggs and bacon knew he was Captain America once upon a time. 

“Hi,” she greeted, taking the seat across from him. “Didn’t know you had breakfast here, too.”

“Was just in the neighborhood.” He smiled and it almost pained her to see him looking the way he did. There was a sense of betrayal there, sure, but she wouldn’t admit that to herself. Whatever connection they had has been severed now. She hasn’t talked to him at all after finding out where he’d gone, and to who. It just felt strange.

“Sure you were.” Sharon took a sip of her coffee, hot and black, and it burned her tongue. “How’ve you been?”

“Oh, you know. Getting used to this whole not doing anything thing.” He looked at her fondly and it confused the fuck out of her. Maybe if she’d just ignored him, all of these conflicting feelings wouldn’t be rising to the surface. 

“Well, I just came to say hi. I’m late for a meeting.”

“Bucky told me you were gone for a while. On a mission. How was that?” He was making small talk, which she absolutely hated. Sharon Carter didn’t do small talk. Sharon Carter preferred it if everything was laid out straightforwardly in front of her. The irony of being a spy and this wasn’t lost to her. But there was a reason she’d been avoiding him.

“Look, Steve--” it sounded weird now. Should she call him Steve? Was she allowed to technically call him Steve? Mr. Rogers? _God forbid_ , Uncle Steve? She wanted to gag. She wished she was back in Amsterdam.

“I never got to apologize for the way things ended between us.” He did look apologetic and she knew he meant everything he said. He still carried himself like a chivalrous knight. He was pretty much still the Steve Rogers she met all those years ago. “I’m sorry. This must be very confusing for you. But I just wanted to apologize.”

“You don’t have to.” But he did, didn’t he? “Nothing started anyway.”

“Sharon--”

“Look, Steve, it’s fine. I mean, sure it’s weird. The time travel thing and its consequences are still confusing for me but at the end of the day, there’s nothing I can do about it. You followed your path. I’ll follow mine.” Which was away from him. Away from that diner. Away from that part of town. If she could help it, away from that country. That planet. 

“I don’t want you to be mad at me. Please?”

“I’m _not_ mad.” Except she was, kind of. But more at the state of the universe than anything. One minute she was expecting a call from Steve Rogers and the next thing she knew he’s aged and married her aunt? What the fuck does one make of that? “You’ll always be the hero in my aunt’s stories. _My_ hero. But right now, I have _work_ and I need to go. You need to let me go.”

There was a pang in her chest which wouldn’t subside. Not after he nodded to let her leave. Not after she drove herself to work. Not after having a briefing with the boys. Not after she stumbled into the dark with another random stranger who picked her up at the bar she found herself sulking at. What she told him was the truth. He _was_ her hero. He wasn’t her boyfriend though. _Never_ was. And now, Sharon thought bitterly as she spent the night with another stranger, they were family.


End file.
